FOLLOW JESUS TO THE RIVER

Mark 1:9-11 – In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him; and a voice came from the heavens: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

There are distinct seasons of the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the world to advance God’s kingdom. Obviously Jesus was living in one of those times even though He was living in obscurity as the son of a carpenter in the small town called Nazareth. John the Baptist was the initial instrument in this world changing move of God. He was preaching and calling the nation of Israel to repentance and baptizing multitudes in the Jordan River. Jesus came with thousands of others to hear John preach and to be baptized. Why was Jesus who was sinless need to be baptized? We could go on a number of theological rabbit trails to try to break that down but the one obvious reason to me was to acknowledge and submit to this move of God being led by the prophet John. Here is how Barclay describes this moment.

“It is true that Jesus did not need to repent from sin; but here was a movement of the people back to God; and with that Godward movement he was determined to identify himself. It is possible to possess ease and comfort and wealth and still to identify with a movement to bring better things to the downtrodden and the poor and the ill-housed and the overworked and the underpaid. The really great identification is when people identify with a movement, not for their own sake, but for the sake of others. In John Bunyan’s dream, Christian came in his journeying with Interpreter to the Palace which was heavily guarded and required a battle to seek an entry. At the door there sat the man with the ink horn taking the names of those who would dare the assault. All were hanging back, then Christian saw ‘a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying, “Set down my name, sir”’. When great things are afoot the Christian is bound to say, ‘Set down my name, sir,’ for that is what Jesus did when he came to be baptized.”

From this day John would decrease and Jesus would increase. This is how it is for all of us when we surrender to the move of God and follow Jesus into the river. From that day on we begin to decrease and the Lord begins to increase in and through our lives. I have seen two major moves of God in my lifetime, The Jesus People Movement in the 1970’s and the River outpouring of the 1990’s. By the grace of God I recognized that both of these moments were historical for the world and life changing to me. I had to join Jesus in the river of baptism and allow Him to bring me into the move of God that was underway. I feel the waters troubling again for this next generation, I think it just may be time to follow Jesus to the River again.